Clicking Noise From Brakes - Chirping Noise When I Press Hard

There is a pretty loud continuous clicking noise lasting about 30 seconds (not necessarily a bad one - just annoying) that comes on every thirty seconds to a minute when I'm driving my Prius. It happens more often now than it did 10,000 miles ago.

It also happens without fail for a few seconds every time I brake. Is this a normal noise? I fear it may be associated with the brake actuator--which the chirping noise is associated with.

If I press firmly on the brakes (which is rare), they chirp. Toyota released a bulletin on it.
TSB BR001-07

I'm really tight on cash and it would be horrifying if I had to spend 2700 on a brake actuator. Will it fail eventually? I know the chirping noise has been brought up before, but because of the clicking noise I also have, I'm posting again. Any ideas what this might be--or what might fix it? Is it worth spending $100 on a brake flush? Would it cause more damage if I didn't flush it? Why would it have air bubbles in the system anyway? Thoughts?

 

Maybe I'll just bleed them and hope it fixes the issue. What about the clicking noise? Anyone have insight on that?

 

Would it work to just use my personal OBD II units to reset the codes on every flush? Or do I need to have toyota use their techstream to do it?
I'm afraid an OBD II may not open all the valves and make the problem worse.

 

That isn't, however, going to fix the clicking noise. Do you have the same clicking noise from your prius? Or is that not normal? It's pretty loud and I can hear it unless I'm going at highway speeds.